‘Walking is one of the best ways to explore a country,’ said Queen Rania of Jordan to our walking party.

‘People who walk tend to have more open-minds, less stereotypes of a place or their people.’

After more than 72km (roughly 45 miles, but who’s counting…) and a walk through some incredible, carving mountaintop scenery, we were certainly the audience to hear the benefits of this mode of travel.

Queen Rania of Jordan is known for her humanitarian work (Picture: Salah Malkawi/Newsmakers)

And Jordan has plenty of stereotypes to be knocked down.

The camel ridden by a bedouin through a desert, in an Indiana Jones style scene, is the old marketing style that has stuck. The romanticism of the film Lawrence of Arabia has much to thank for these stereotypes. Petra – the Rose City – home to one of the Seven New Wonders of the World – is touted in every mention of the country’s travel literature, alongside the obligatory Dead Sea.

These all create an impression of a landscape, but what of the people?

‘Women face challenges in Jordan like anywhere in the world’, says Duna Fayyad, who walked the Jordan Trail to discover more of her home country

Jordan, a country surrounded by political tensions, has a rising liberal philosophy, which begins at the very top – thanks to a progressive royal family.

Queen Rania, who spoke recently to The Sunday Times Magazine about the importance of helping refugees, is doing her fair share to change perceptions of what it means to be a leading lady in the Middle East.

She is an outspoken opponent of honour killings, a strong, progressive, female voice in the Arab world, and a powerful global advocate for education, health and women’s rights.

The chance to walk offers people a better understanding of a place and its people. (Picture: Lisa Trainer)

Jordan has taken in two million refugees, despite having only five million of its own people. That’s an incredibly generous effort towards the refugee crisis and is a marked contrast to many – more prosperous – western nations.

Tourism was going well, until the past few years, when the protests and demonstrations in 2010 – which became known as the Arab Spring – started across the Middle East and North Africa. Tourists have been put off visiting a country in the heart of this political stirring, though Jordan itself has remained peaceful throughout.

The actions of the west in Syria and the media’s portrayal of unrest in the Middle East impact on economies.

In among the safety fears, there are the inhabitants; people with objectives and work and family and travels plans of their own.

Four of us flew from London to Jordan’s capital, Amman, during the last few days of April.

We joined an avid troop of hikers who had already spent a month walking from the north.

We met them outside Dana – a village near the town of Tafilah in central-western Jordan.

Metro.co.uk’s Lisa Trainer, second from left, with fellow hikers along The Jordan Trail

Many of our fellow travellers were from Jordan. This was a way for them to explore their own country, many of whom had travelled abroad extensively.

The exposed route passes through ancient rifts in the earth’s crust and has been named one of the 15 best hikes in the world by National Geographic.

Juniper trees become your new best friend as they offer pockets of shade at welcome intervals.

The Jordan Trail hikers gather before day three of the trek, which concluded at the ancient site of Petra – one of the Seven Modern Wonders

Olivia Mason, from Glasgow, is studying her PhD on Jordan’s tourism industry and how hiking impacts on cultural understanding.

‘I’ve been in Jordan the last year,” she said. “I’m here doing PhD research into hiking in Jordan and the growth of hiking and walking and alternative forms of tourism in this region.

‘I’ve been looking a lot at the cultural differences in hiking and what this means in different cultures and for people in different locations. Also, how hiking is a different way of moving through Jordan and the Middle East – it can tell us different things about landscape and how we can understand the politics and the culture a bit differently.

Olivia Mason, walking part of the trail and studying a PhD on Jordan’s tourism and how hiking adds to cultural understanding (Picture: Lisa Trainer)

‘Travelling by feet, as opposed to a lot of the tourism here – people travelling to Petra by coach trips and organised tours. So looking at how hiking can show people a different side and you can meet people differently. You have more encounters with people’s homes and can meet local people.’

The Jordan Trail was set up to raise money for the local communities the trail passes through, from Um Qais in the north to the Red Sea in the south.